Tillamook - Maple & Candied Pecan

Maple & Candied Pecan - Maple Frozen Custard with Candied Pecan Pieces

 

Today is another new flavor from the Oregon-based Tillamook Creamery.  As mentioned in recent reviews, Tillamook has re-imagined their pint flavors this year.  Most of their previous flavors were cycled out.  Today's flavor is called Maple & Candied Pecan.  It looks like a replacement for their old Pendleton Whisky & Maple flavor.  So pecans are in and whisky is out (for now).  I bought this pint at Kowalski's on Grand in Saint Paul, but I believe local Target stores now also carry Tillamook pints.  Let's dig in!

Removing the lid and peeling back the protective foil, the maple syrup base has an off-white color non-inconsistent with the color of maple syrup.  None of the mix-ins are visible on top.  Digging in the maple syrup flavor in the base is quite delicious.  It is a frozen custard.  It is not soft-serve, but it is thick yet easy to scoop.  Soon I encounter the mix-ins.  The pecan pieces are quite sizeable and crunchy.  The side of the container bills them as "candied" but it is not a hard candy like a praline pecan.  Here, the candy coating seems to have melted in the ice cream creating a small pool of syrup surronding each pecan piece.  I have seen this happen before and I actually quite like this effect.  The overall effect of the syrupy coating to the crunchy pecan pieces is quite delicious.

This is a very well done maple pecan flavor from Tillamook Creamery.  I have seen some similar flavor combinations but nothing exactly like this.  The closest was probably Ample Hills which had a limited-batch flavor called Maple Bourbon Barrel which included bourbon in its base and swirl.  Izzy's had a couple of maple nut flavors (here and here) in their scoop shop days.  I like this Tillamook flavor quite a bit.  Maple syrup fans should not hesitate to try this out.